The annual cost of global damage to the natural environment has been put at $4,500 billion. This is greater than the annual cost of coping with the financial crisis, according to a European Commission-backed study group.
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) puts a value on forests, wetlands, grasslands and ocean habitats, and then costs the damage to, or loss of, this ‘natural capital’. They launched their findings at the 10th meeting of signatories (COP10) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity held in Nagoya, Japan this week.
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/1359&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
Pavan Sukhdev, a former banker who leads the programme, said his team measures ‘the multi-trillion dollar importance to the global economy of the natural world’, including forests, which it calls ‘the GDP of the poor’, coral reefs, ocean habitats, wetlands, rivers and even the value of pollinating insects.
He called for ‘a new era in which the value of nature’s services is made visible and becomes an explicit part of policy and business decision-making.’ The report suggests that in future, national measures of GDP and company accounts, should include these costs, which would ‘reset the economic compass’.
‘The time for ignoring biodiversity and persisting with conventional thinking regarding wealth creation and development is over. We must get on to the path towards a green economy,’ Sukhdev stated.
Unfortunately, governments and corporations are heading in the opposite direction. In Britain, Osborne’s Comprehensive Spending Review, launched on the same day as the TEEB report, specifically attacked measures to support bio-diversity. The Con-Lib Coalition has removed up to £1bn a year by 2014-15 from the development of green energy and other initiatives, by putting income from the Carbon Tax into reducing the deficit instead.
Environmental Stewardship schemes that pay farmers to support bio-diversity have been cut. The 20% budget cut for Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will lead to funding cuts and possible privatisation for England’s 224 National Parks and for the botanical gardens at Kew.
Globally, the economic crisis is driving reckless and uncontrolled destruction of habitats. Oil drilling in deep water causes constant leakage; tar sand extraction wrecks forests and rivers; the extraction of uranium for the new generation of nuclear power stations is poisoning land, animals and people. Far from ‘internalising’ these ‘externalities’, the corporations do everything they can to avoid taking responsibility, and paying.
However, the work of TEEB is extremely important in looking to the future, beyond capitalism. This kind of economic management will support new concepts of growth that include the costs of extraction and of recycling products at the end of their (very much extended) useful life. Such concepts of course will exclude the capitalist premise that shareholder profit is the sole measure of success.
Penny Cole
Environment editor
For revolutionary solutions to create a sustainable, not-for-profit economy in place of global capital alongside a real democracy based on People’s Assemblies. Visit our web site at www.aworldtowin.net
Showing posts with label oil drilling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil drilling. Show all posts
Friday, October 22, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Corporations make oil a dirty business
Russia and Norway have signed a deal carving up the Arctic Ocean bed, opening the way for a new oil boom. All of this will is certain to lead to more spills, pollution and the further destruction of marine and coastal environments.
The United States Geological Survey last year estimated there could be 90 billion barrels of oil and 50 trillion cubic metres of gas across the Arctic and the oil corporations are itching to get their hands on it.
Companies like Exxon, Chevron and Shell, are queuing up for permission from Greenland – part of Denmark – to begin drilling in some of the most precious eco-systems on the planet. Gas is already being tapped there.
New North Sea fields, west of the Shetland Islands, are also set to be drilled. One of the firms involved is BP and MPs listened open-mouthed as outgoing CEO Tony Hayward told them not to worry – his firm is safe. The Energy and Climate Change Select Committee were questioning him not only about the Gulf Oil spill, but also about the fact that BP’s Magnus North Sea oil platform has failed three oil spill preparedness inspections since 2006.
Even small fields that in the past would not be worth drilling are now yielding profits. Some unique environments are under threat as a result. The Australian company ADX is drilling in the strait between Sicily and Tunisia. They got the go-ahead even though the area is a priority conservation area, with tuna, swordfish, sharks and turtles breeding, and coral gardens with thousands of species.
The island of Panteleria, soon to be declared a marine reserve, is just 13 miles from the rig and would be engulfed with oil in case of a big spill. But the Italian government is keen to expand oil production in their part of the Mediterranean.
In reality, spills are not occasional accidents, but part and parcel of the oil production process. Safety and environmental concerns are never allowed to interfere with the bottom line.
While 10 million litres of oil as day was pouring in the Gulf of Mexico from Deepwater Horizon, monitors discovered there were also continuous leaks from old abandoned wells nearby.
In Venezuela, oil is spreading across Lake Maracaibo, polluting wetlands and mangroves. Fishermen say their nets are coated, and that wildlife is dying.
In the Niger Delta, there are an average 1,598 breaks or leaks in the pipelines each year. Oil has saturated the world’s third-largest wetland, destroying farmland and fishing. But Shell has abandoned Ogoniland to its fate – they are off to the Arctic to get their hands on more easy money.
The side effects of cleaning up spills can be equally as dangerous, with little investment in research and no clear idea of the long-term effects of spraying millions of gallons of dispersants into the sea.
The last major advance in safety was after the fire on the Piper Alpha platform in 1988. But it emerged recently that lies were told about what happened to toxic chemicals stored on the rig for use in the production process. At the time it was claimed these had gone up in smoke – but now it is clear that they went into the water and have destroyed a wide area of marine life.
Humanity needs oil – it is crucial for our survival – but the reckless extraction of oil for burning must be halted. It must husbanded for essential uses. And you could say it is almost a sacred duty to extract it with extreme care and to the highest standards, when it is found in such precious places. There will be times when it should just be left where it is. The first step to achieving this approach is to remove the whole process from the control of corporations who place profit above all other considerations, as the calamity in the Gulf shows.
Penny Cole
Environment editor
The United States Geological Survey last year estimated there could be 90 billion barrels of oil and 50 trillion cubic metres of gas across the Arctic and the oil corporations are itching to get their hands on it.
Companies like Exxon, Chevron and Shell, are queuing up for permission from Greenland – part of Denmark – to begin drilling in some of the most precious eco-systems on the planet. Gas is already being tapped there.
New North Sea fields, west of the Shetland Islands, are also set to be drilled. One of the firms involved is BP and MPs listened open-mouthed as outgoing CEO Tony Hayward told them not to worry – his firm is safe. The Energy and Climate Change Select Committee were questioning him not only about the Gulf Oil spill, but also about the fact that BP’s Magnus North Sea oil platform has failed three oil spill preparedness inspections since 2006.
Even small fields that in the past would not be worth drilling are now yielding profits. Some unique environments are under threat as a result. The Australian company ADX is drilling in the strait between Sicily and Tunisia. They got the go-ahead even though the area is a priority conservation area, with tuna, swordfish, sharks and turtles breeding, and coral gardens with thousands of species.
The island of Panteleria, soon to be declared a marine reserve, is just 13 miles from the rig and would be engulfed with oil in case of a big spill. But the Italian government is keen to expand oil production in their part of the Mediterranean.
In reality, spills are not occasional accidents, but part and parcel of the oil production process. Safety and environmental concerns are never allowed to interfere with the bottom line.
While 10 million litres of oil as day was pouring in the Gulf of Mexico from Deepwater Horizon, monitors discovered there were also continuous leaks from old abandoned wells nearby.
In Venezuela, oil is spreading across Lake Maracaibo, polluting wetlands and mangroves. Fishermen say their nets are coated, and that wildlife is dying.
In the Niger Delta, there are an average 1,598 breaks or leaks in the pipelines each year. Oil has saturated the world’s third-largest wetland, destroying farmland and fishing. But Shell has abandoned Ogoniland to its fate – they are off to the Arctic to get their hands on more easy money.
The side effects of cleaning up spills can be equally as dangerous, with little investment in research and no clear idea of the long-term effects of spraying millions of gallons of dispersants into the sea.
The last major advance in safety was after the fire on the Piper Alpha platform in 1988. But it emerged recently that lies were told about what happened to toxic chemicals stored on the rig for use in the production process. At the time it was claimed these had gone up in smoke – but now it is clear that they went into the water and have destroyed a wide area of marine life.
Humanity needs oil – it is crucial for our survival – but the reckless extraction of oil for burning must be halted. It must husbanded for essential uses. And you could say it is almost a sacred duty to extract it with extreme care and to the highest standards, when it is found in such precious places. There will be times when it should just be left where it is. The first step to achieving this approach is to remove the whole process from the control of corporations who place profit above all other considerations, as the calamity in the Gulf shows.
Penny Cole
Environment editor
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
The case for seizing BP
The crashing sound that is the price of BP shares falling through the floor highlights not only the environmental consequences of deep water drilling for oil but also the fatal dependency on stock markets when it comes to workers’ pensions.
At the time of writing, the company’s market value was down by one third since the Horizon Deepwater drilling rig operated by Swiss corporation Transocean, exploded six weeks ago, killing 11 workers, and started pouring oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
This huge and sudden decline in its value and the growing uncertainty over the fate of BP places the pensions of millions in jeopardy. The company paid £6.6 billion in dividends last year – equal to £1 in every £7 paid out by all the companies in the FTSE 100 – and is a major holding in most pension funds. Most private pensions in the UK are dependent on investment funds managed by companies which are major shareholders in BP, previously the UK’s most valuable company.
The oil spill disaster is an open and shut case for abolishing the unsustainable nature of capitalist ownership and production for profit. Even former US Secretary of Labour Robert Reich has called for the US government to take the company into a “temporary receivership.”
Seize BP launches a nationwide campaign of protests in cities across the US from tomorrow. It is a part of the Answer coalition which consists of hundreds of organisations and prominent individuals and scores of campaigning centres in cities and towns across the US.
The national steering committee represents major national organisations that have campaigned against US intervention in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia, as well as for social and economic justice for working and poor people in America itself. Seize BP says:
The sticking point revolves about who is actually going to seize BP? Obama’s White House is certainly not going to, that’s for sure, however loud and militant the protests and petitions are. Expropriation of BP and other transnational corporations would be a revolutionary act, founded on mass mobilisation and a simultaneous political struggle for power. For the sake of both the environment and people’s pensions, this has to be the way forward.
Gerry Gold
Economics editor
At the time of writing, the company’s market value was down by one third since the Horizon Deepwater drilling rig operated by Swiss corporation Transocean, exploded six weeks ago, killing 11 workers, and started pouring oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
This huge and sudden decline in its value and the growing uncertainty over the fate of BP places the pensions of millions in jeopardy. The company paid £6.6 billion in dividends last year – equal to £1 in every £7 paid out by all the companies in the FTSE 100 – and is a major holding in most pension funds. Most private pensions in the UK are dependent on investment funds managed by companies which are major shareholders in BP, previously the UK’s most valuable company.
The oil spill disaster is an open and shut case for abolishing the unsustainable nature of capitalist ownership and production for profit. Even former US Secretary of Labour Robert Reich has called for the US government to take the company into a “temporary receivership.”
Seize BP launches a nationwide campaign of protests in cities across the US from tomorrow. It is a part of the Answer coalition which consists of hundreds of organisations and prominent individuals and scores of campaigning centres in cities and towns across the US.
The national steering committee represents major national organisations that have campaigned against US intervention in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia, as well as for social and economic justice for working and poor people in America itself. Seize BP says:
There must be remediation and compensation for all damages flowing from BP’s oil spill, including all losses to people, economy and otherwise. It should not be up to BP to decide if and when to dole out compensation.
BP reaped $5.6 billion of profits in the first quarter of 2010 and $17 billion in 2009. This is money made from BP’s aggressive push into ultra-hazardous deep water offshore drilling that has taken the lives of 11 workers in the recent explosion, and caused human misery and environmental wreckage that will persist for years to come. These huge sums are pure profit — what remains after all accounting manoeuvres and payments of the massive salaries and luxurious perks to executives.
Here, BP has committed acts causing devastation that threatens the spoliation and poisoning of the shorelands, wildlife, human health and economy of no less than the five states that have frontal coastline on the Gulf of Mexico: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Worst case scenarios would pollute and destroy the frontal coastlines of states up the Atlantic seaboard.
BP’s conduct constitutes an assault on the people and environment of the surrounding region of the Gulf of Mexico. BP’s assets should be immediately seized, and placed in a trust, in amounts proportionate to — and sufficient to fully compensate for — all projected harm from its dangerous and reckless acts in pursuit of super-profits.
The sticking point revolves about who is actually going to seize BP? Obama’s White House is certainly not going to, that’s for sure, however loud and militant the protests and petitions are. Expropriation of BP and other transnational corporations would be a revolutionary act, founded on mass mobilisation and a simultaneous political struggle for power. For the sake of both the environment and people’s pensions, this has to be the way forward.
Gerry Gold
Economics editor
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